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dbsmith

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So a friend asked me "Why don't you sell your beer?". I told him that there are many laws and a lot of red tape around opening a business, yadda yadda yadda.... But it kind of made me think. If I sold one really tasty beer to say one or two pubs (just a couple kegs here and there...depending on volume) how much red tape is there really? I think that there is a law in Washington than the beer must be brewed in a separate facility than the home. But besides that, what is there? Licenses? Inspections? How much would it really cost to be able to sell beer? Anyone with any experience and advice would be greatly appreciated.:mug:
 
Go to the liquor board website and check out probrewer.com. They're probably much better resources than hbt.
 
It can be done but it is a lot of work to get everything in order. Even then, selling only a few kegs to a few pubs would likely not be worth it IMO unless you make a beer that is in high demand. You essentially need to have one or two flagships that make up the majority of your sales and then have some small batch stuff that follows suit with the quality level. If you do what one of the local's does (brews on a 1bbl setup that he slides into his driveway) and sells to a few local pubs you will have a hard time unless you have really good product. This local I speak of, IMO, does not make quality beer and in fact it tastes like it's cut with water to me which is specifically why I decided not to carry his beer in my taproom. That and he doesn't seem to understand beer or the local market as much as I think he should.
 
It can be done but it is a lot of work to get everything in order. Even then, selling only a few kegs to a few pubs would likely not be worth it IMO unless you make a beer that is in high demand. You essentially need to have one or two flagships that make up the majority of your sales and then have some small batch stuff that follows suit with the quality level. If you do what one of the local's does (brews on a 1bbl setup that he slides into his driveway) and sells to a few local pubs you will have a hard time unless you have really good product. This local I speak of, IMO, does not make quality beer and in fact it tastes like it's cut with water to me which is specifically why I decided not to carry his beer in my taproom. That and he doesn't seem to understand beer or the local market as much as I think he should.

I live in the Vancouver area, I'm curious what taproom your referring to.
 
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